A Proposal on Investigation on the Effectiveness of the Ministry of Deliverance in the Life of a Christian
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To discuss the concepts of ill-health, healing and deliverance as well as church growth
- To examine the belief and practice of healing and deliverance in Christian life
- To ascertain the relationship between healing and deliverance and church growth in Christian life
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Healing and deliverance
In this research, Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu’s, definition of ‘healing and deliverance’ is adopted. He defines ‘healing and deliverance’ as the deployment of divine resources, that is, power and authority in the name or blood of Jesus – perceived in pneumatological terms as the intervention of the Holy Spirit – to provide release for demon-possessed, demon-oppressed; broken hearted, disturbed and troubled persons, in order that victims may be restored to proper functioning order, that is, to health and wholeness; and being thus freed from demonic influence and curses, so they may enjoy God’s fullness of life understood to be available in Christ. Although healing and deliverance are sometimes used as distinctive terms (plural sense), for the purpose of this work, it is used to mean one operational term (singular sense). This is because, in practical sense, most Charismatic/neo-Pentecostal Churches consider the two practices (healing and deliverance) as inseparable. In this work, the researcher uses ‘healing and deliverance’ in singular sense.
The Concept of Ill-Health
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.67 Unlike the traditional system of healing, biomedical healing, which is usually termed as curing, relies so much on scientific methods of investigation. A very brief discussion of the scientific perspective on illhealth will suffice.
CHAPTER THREE
Healing and Deliverance from the Biblical Perspective
This section briefly discusses healing and deliverance from both the old and new testament perspectives and how the practice fared after the death of the last apostle who had been with Jesus. It is very important to consider healing and deliverance from biblical point of view since the Bible is believed to be the Christians’ guide to faith and practice. A survey of the Bible shows several records of healing and deliverance incidences. The earliest trace of healing in the Bible recounts the story about Abraham who was reported to have prayed and Abimelech and his household were healed (Genesis 20:17a). In all these accounts of healing reported in the Old Testament, it is used not only in reference to the healing of humans but it also includes natural phenomena from which humans derive their existence and livelihood. For instance 2 Kings 2: 21 states; ‘Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, ‘this is what the Lord says: I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’ And the water has remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken. In some cases, the mention of healing in the Old Testament applies to the totality of people in a whole nation. The Bible gives account of how the nation of Babylon needed to be healed as recorded in Jeremiah 51: 9. This states that; ‘We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to his own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the clouds. What is evident, in all these cases, is the fact that healing is being employed either to deal with ill health in the lives of individuals or restore the well being of the society in general. These show that the old Testament usage of healing does not only mean physical sickness of people but also has to do with the immediate environments in which people live and derive their existence and livelihood.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work. The choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to investigation on the effectiveness of the ministry of deliverance in the life of a Christian
METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS
The researcher will employ oral and direct interview in administering this research questions. Responses from the respondents were needed unlike questionnaires, which is less rewarding due to late receipt and loss of responses from respondents. The method of data analysis that will be used by the researcher is the simple percentage. More so, percentage and degrees of the responses will also be used in the analysis. Here, the ratio of those whose responses were not in the affirmative will be found and conclusions will be drawn there upon. Representations of the level of responses will be made in tabular form. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software will be used to test the hypotheses.
CHAPTER FIVE
References
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- Anderson, Allan, An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
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- Asamoah-Gyadu Kwabena, J., Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity: interpreting from An African Context (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2013).
- Ashigbie W. E., (ed), The History of the Global Evangelical Church- 1847-2011 (Accra Global Evangelical Publishing Services, 2012).
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- Craig Ott & Gene Wilson in, Global Church Planting: Biblical Principles and best practices for Multiplication (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2011). Emmanuel Kingsley Larbi, Pentecostalism; the Eddies of Ghanaian Christianity (Accra: Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies, 2001).
- Engel, G. ‘The Need for a New Medical Model: A Challenge for Biomedicine’ in A. Caplan et. al. (eds), Concepts of Health and Disease (Town unknown: Addison Wesley Co, 1981).
